Monique Bienvenue of Bee Sweet Citrus Talks Citrus for the Holiday Season

FOWLER, CA - With the domestic citrus season underway in California, retailers are gearing up for fall promotions and adding a fresh squeeze to produce departments. Demand has reached new heights in the citrus category, and answering that call is the Bee Sweet Citrus team, bringing fresh solutions to their customers and the consumer this holiday season.

Monique Bienvenue, Director of Communications, took a few minutes to chat with me about California citrus and what we can expect as we move through the remainder of 2017.

“We supply oranges, lemons, and mandarins year-round, but as our domestic season kicks into gear, we are eager to welcome back Cara Cara Navels, Blood Oranges, Pummelos, Melo Golds, Grapefruit, Gold Nugget Mandarins, Minneolas, and Meyer Lemons,” Monique shares. “The Bee Sweet Citrus marketing team is happy to provide P.O.S. sheets or any additional marketing material that retailers believe would help push out their product.”

As citrus becomes a household staple, Monique notes that Bee Sweet has noticed that there is a year-round demand for varieties such as navels and mandarins and as the company moves into the winter season, however, the team anticipates the demand for other varieties will gain momentum.

“For example, consumers like to incorporate pommelos and mandarins into their Chinese New Year celebrations in January, and lemons into their Superbowl snacks and into their Lenten meals as well,” Monique tells me. “Consumers are interested in knowing where their food comes from and providing consumers with resources that highlight the farm-to-fork movement can help strengthen that grower-consumer relationship.”

The story behind the amazing fresh produce displayed in the produce departments has become more important than ever, and retailers are already doing an exceptional job in highlighting the farmer’s story on marketing materials throughout their facilities.

“We’d like to encourage them to continue along that route,” Monique adds. “PMA Fresh Summit will be a great opportunity to have these conversations and further promote our citrus vision so please come by and visit us.”

With Fresh Summit just around the corner, make sure to add the Bee Sweet Citrus booth #4533 to your list of destinations.